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Points and Figures. Five big blunders of 'do-it-yourself' investors. There is a close relationship between do-it-yourself and blew-it-yourself investing.

Vancouver financial adviser Ian Collings figures that between one-third and half of his new clients have been doing at least some investing on their own. In looking at their portfolios, he’s found several recurring mistakes that hurt their results. “I see a lot of bad portfolios,” said Mr. Collings, a certified financial planner (CFP) who catalogued the blunders of do-it-yourselfers in a recent blog post. Advisers have since been distributing the list on Twitter for obvious reasons. Another is to study common blunders so you can become a stronger self-directed investor. 1. “This to me is a big one,” he said. Money sitting in cash in a brokerage account typically earns zero interest these days, or a token amount at best. To be a successful do-it-yourself investor, you need time as well as knowledge and the confidence to apply it. 2.

Let’s start with bonds. What Mr. Perhaps Mr. 3. 4. 5. Mr.
The 5 Dumbest Things You Can Do if You Have too Much Debt. Time to get REAL. This seems to be the time of year when reality sets in: whatever we're doing with fitness, money, or other routines -- well, by this point it's not about New Year's, resolutions anymore.

February is real life, and it's probably how things are going to stay at least until summer starts, unless we take action to change them Download a Free Spending Journal In my book, that makes February a perfect time to re-examine your reality. Pull back a few paces from the daily grind of your life, take a clear-eyed look at the evidence you see, and then figure out -- with as cool a head as you can -- what it means for you, and especially what it means for what you're getting out of life. Doing this takes some bravery, because a lot of people go to great lengths to avoid dealing with reality. Jumpstart Your Reality Check Here are some questions you can ask yourself to get the ball rolling: What do you say you want?

Embrace Reality FitnessFinancesRelationshipsTime Management Show, Don't Tell, Your Priorities. The Financial Crisis - A visual Guide to How the Economy Went Into Recession. Almost overnight, the talking heads went from perpetuating the euphoria of investors to rushing to pronounce the economy dead.

You'll still find the stories in the Star on Mondays and online throughout the week with bloggers and contributors including personal finance columnist Ellen Roseman, Gordon Pape on investing and Mark Weisleder on real estate. We're adding two long-time contributing columnists, Rudy Luukko on mutual funds and Bill Carrigan on technical investing. Stories will continue to help readers become better savers and smarter spenders as they juggle competing household priorities. So come on over and take a look.